UNDERWRITERS behind many travel insurance policies have turned down hundreds of claims from Channel Islanders. A spokeswoman for Norwich Union Underwriters, the company behind many policies sold by banks and building societies, said many people did not know that their connecting flights from the islands were not covered.

She advised people to check their policies and try to find an insurance company that would allow people to pay an extra amount to specifically cover the Channel Island journey, so if they missed a connecting flight due to fog in the island, they could claim for it.

But David Le Cras, an agent at Island International Travel, said that all the main agents in Guernsey would have an endorsement that covered passengers travelling to and from the Channel Islands. The only cases where people should be careful was when they bought a policy directly through a tour operator.

‘When a customer buys a policy at a local agent, there is a £2 supplement, which includes Guernsey if you are delayed, so you will be covered. I have had cases where people have missed an onward connecting flight in London because of fog in Guernsey, but they were given more than £700 to cover the expenses.’

He said the issue came to the fore some time ago because some policies were not covering people, but agents addressed it to make sure they were covered. The company’s Jersey counterpart also ensures that there is a special inclusion for Channel Islands residents.

Kirsty Young, a broker at Cherry Godfrey Insurance Services, said that the company’s policy did include an extra endorsement which meant people who lived here were covered.

‘Providing the person leaves a reasonable amount of time to connect to their next flight – at least five hours – they are covered should they miss it. We would not be selling travel insurance otherwise,’ she said.

It has been discovered that insurance underwriters were classing Jersey and the rest of the Channel Islands as part of the UK and all flights to the UK as internal.

Their policies do not cover internal or domestic flights when there is an onward journey from the UK, meaning islanders are thinking they are insured when travelling to either catch another business flight or go on holiday abroad. But if onward journeys or holidays are missed due to a problem with the Jersey or Guernsey leg, travellers are repeatedly finding they are unable to make successful insurance claims.